St. Patrick’s Day Toledo-area activity guide

The Blarney Irish Pub is the spot to be for the most happening St. Patrick’s Day party in town, pub employees say.

“We have the best food, the best music and the best location. We have the biggest party. We have the most fun,” said bartender Beth Golday.

The two-day Blarney Madness party expands on the restaurant’s usual pub space and adjacent BullPen to include a large tent on Huron Street.

The fun starts at 6 p.m. March 16 and runs until 2 a.m. March 18. The pop-rock band The Bridges headlines at 8 p.m. March 16. Dragon Wagon plays at 1 p.m. March 17, followed by Bangers & Thrash at 6 p.m. and Skoobie Snaks at 8:30 p.m. DJ Kyle Rickner will play between sets both days.

Bonnie Cosey and Fred Belintkos with Lauren at The Blarney.

The weekend includes other highlights like an ice luge for shots, bagpipers at 7 a.m. March 17 and firefighters in kilts.

The party benefits Toledo and Sylvania local firefighters charities. The Blarney frequently works with firefighters, Golday said.

“They’re always helping others and risking their lives for other people,” she said.

A portion of the proceeds also benefits the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-American Catholic organization.

A $15 shirt will be on sale at The Blarney. By wearing the shirt, customers can get free entry March 17 and 10 percent off their bills during March.

A Jiggs Dinner with corned beef, potatoes, carrots and celery will be on sale for $9 in the BullPen in addition to a corned beef sandwich and chips for $7, bangers and chips for $6 and a half pound of Blarney Stones (chicken chunks) for $6.

A breakfast of eggs, Irish bacon, potato pancakes and soda bread is available in the pub starting at 7 a.m. March 17 for $7. And, of course, several Irish beers will be available, including Guinness, Killian’s and Great Lakes Conway’s Irish Ale.

Entry is $5. The Blarney is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. March 16 and from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. March 17. The tent is open from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. March 16 and noon to 1 a.m. March 17.

The Blarney is located at 601 Monroe St., Downtown Toledo. Toledo Free Press is a media sponsor of this event. Visit theblarneyirishpub.com for more information.

Each week for nine weeks, 10 local singers or bands will perform at the Irish eatery at Westfield Franklin Park, 5001 Monroe St., before three judges. On the 10th week — May 31 — the nine winners will compete in a final round to determine the winner of the $5,000 grand prize.

Judges will include Claddagh general manager JaNeil Mesteller and Chris Hunt, who regularly MCs Claddagh pub trivia contests and other events. The third judge will rotate weekly among local celebrities.

“Audience involvement is part of the judging, so the more people you bring with you to root you on, the better your chances to get through,” Mesteller said.

Entry is free and first come, first serve. Entrants can be solo singers or bands of up to three people. Participants must be 21 or older and must provide a photo ID, fill out an entry form and sign a copy of the rules to be eligible. Performances must be in good taste, and music must be submitted for approval before competing. The first week is full, Mesteller said.

“We want this to be a fun, true festival, where people are enjoying themselves,” Mesteller said. “We’ve never done anything like this with such a big purse at the end. It’s a pretty significant amount and it could really help out a person with recording or equipment. Toledo in general has so much talent it’s ridiculous. For such a small town, we really have a great market to pull from. It’s nice to have local people get a piece of the pie.”

For more information or to sign up to participate, call Claddagh at (419) 472-1414.

— Sarah Ottney

Companies offer safe rides home

Remember to stay safe this St. Patrick’s Day. Area driving and cab services are available to make sure it’s easy for you and your friends to get home after going out to celebrate.

Granger’s Automotive, 329 1st St., in Toledo will take you and your vehicle home for $20 on March 16 and March 17 before 3:30 a.m. Call (419) 691-2962 for more information.

Locally owned Black & White Transportation offers a free application that can calculate your blood alcohol content and book you a cab ride home 24 hours a day. The app, B4UDRIVE, is exclusive to iPhone, BlackBerry and Droid, but the company’s mobile online reservation system is accessible by any Web-enabled phone.

You can also text the word “RIDE” to (419) 322-6772 or call the company at (419) 536-TAXI (8294). Cabs are first come, first serve, so there may be a wait. Rates are $2 to get in and $2.30 per mile.

If you know you will need a ride for St. Patrick’s Day, you can also book a sedan. The car service costs $60 per hour for a minimum of five hours.

Another company, BeMyDD, offers a professionally dressed designated driver at an hourly rate. The driver will act as a personal chaufer, driving you and your friends where you want to go and then driving you home. The personal driver service costs $12.50 per hour in the Toledo area, according to BeMyDD’s website.

You can also call after you are already out and BeMyDD will send two drivers to drive you and your vehicle home. In the Toledo area, pickup service costs $25 plus mileage, which is $2.95 per mile for the first 10 miles and $1.50 per mile for each additional mile.

The service is available 24 hours a day, but reservations must be placed by 11 p.m. by calling 877-823-6933 (877-U-BEMYDD). For St. Patrick’s Day, advanced reservations are strongly suggested. For more information, visit www.bemydd.com.

— Sarah Ottney

Irish eyes turn to local festivities

Dressed in our greenest finery, Toledo Free Press Star fashion columnist Lauren O’Neill, Face of FOX Toledo Jocelyn Cruz and I hit the town for a pre-St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl to find out what Toledo has to offer for the upcoming holiday.

Along the way, we met with fellow Toledoans as well as some visiting out-of-towners, including a Marine on leave from Camp Lejeune and a Cleveland-area bowling team in town for a tournament, all enjoying food, drinks and live music at local bars. We also hung out with members of The Steve Mullan Band, Kentucky Chrome and Toast & Jam.

With a name like O’Neill, you know Lauren is Irish, but you might be surprised to learn Cruz, of Puerto Rican heritage, is 10 percent Irish. Not that it matters —

everyone is Irish on March 17!

Below is a list of area St. Patrick’s Day parties, music, food and drink specials to point you to the location that best draws out your inner Irish. Slàinte!

— Sarah Ottney

Arnie’s

3332 W. Central Ave., (419) 517-6037

Open: 6 a.m.-2 a.m.

Food: Kegs and Eggs

Drinks: Ice luges, dollar power hour, 50-cent power hour

Music: Live bands and DJs

Leprechaun and magician

Dennis Kreuz, left, and Tommy Hutt cut loose with Jocelyn at The Bunker.

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One Response to “St. Patrick’s Day Toledo-area activity guide”

Erie eagle

Please, remember the day for its original purpose.

Which is when St.Patrick, brought Christianity to Ireland.

Something to Contemplate: St.Patrick’s Cathedral, in Dublin.
Is the oldest, largest, and most attended cathedral in a predominantly Catholic city & country.

And yet, it is a Protestant(Anglican) church, that serves all who attend !

So if the Wren Boys and the Croppy boys, the Red Hand Brigade and the Boyne Berserk’ s, can get along for a day….so can anyone on the Planet .